PublishedAllen & Unwin, February 2020 |
ISBN9781760632618 |
FormatSoftcover, 248 pages |
Dimensions23.4cm × 15.3cm |
From the grim docks of nineteenth-century London to the even grimmer shores of the brutal penal colony of Norfolk Island, this is a roller-coaster tale. It has everything: defiance of authority, treachery, piracy and mutiny, escape from the hangman's noose and even love. Peopled with good men, buffoons, incompetents and larrikin convicts of the highest order, Ten Rogues is an unexpected and wickedly entertaining story from the great annals of Australia's colonial history.
With the lightness of touch of the master storyteller that he is, Peter Grose brings to irresistible life the story of a small band of convicts who managed to escape the living hell of the Tasmanian penal colony of Sarah Island. Their getaway began by stealing the leaky and untested brig they had helped to build, and then sailing it across the Pacific from Tasmania to Chile with neither a map nor a chronometer.
But their story does not begin or end there. From the strong connection between the slave trade and convict 'transportation' to the possible illegality of the whole convict system, Ten Rogues shines a light into some dark and previously well-hidden corners of colonial history.
Lou is co-owner in the business and is passionate about Venetian history and culture (where his relatives came from).
Ten Rogues tells the historical tale of the grim reality of convict transportation from nineteenth-century London to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), Australia. In particular it details the unlikely story of ten convicts who manage to escape their living hell by stealing the brig they were building and sail from Tasmania to Chile without a map or any navigational instruments.
